Renovated College Mall Road said to be 'accident waiting to happen'

With the completion of College Mall Road, traffic has been flowing through the newly constructed intersections. But no one foresaw the traffic hazard that the crossing of College Mall Road and Windermere Road would create. \nRichard Shelly of the Windermere Homeowners Association said the parallel roads are a traffic accident waiting to happen, with a car turning right off College Mall Road and a car making a left off Windermere onto Covenanter Road.\nA news release from the Homeowners Association said there is only a 60-foot distance between both roads, giving the drivers pulling out onto Covenanter only two seconds to avoid a possible collision.\nBloomington Mayor-Elect Mark Kruzan said he has driven to the site to get a better feel for the situation. \n"It is an awkward intersection at best," Kruzan said. "It comes up so suddenly off of College Mall Road onto Covenanter especially now that it has been widened, but I can see the concern."\nThis statement was not enough to settle the dispute of the road remaining open.\nJohn Freeman, director of Bloomington Public Works, said he has received many phone calls from Windermere Woods residents with concerns about the possibility of closing Windermere.\n"I told them the city had no desire to close the road," Freeman said. "We don't have a reason to close it." \nBloomington Mayor John Fernandez said the road should stay open. \n"There needs to be strong rationale to close the road," Fernandez said. "That rationale does not exist."\nShelly said many people see the design of the road and have problems with it. He said some people within the community do not have good reaction times and cannot avoid an accident easily. \nShelly also said when the road was being designed the city offered to close it in a letter from Vickie Renfrow, Bloomington's assistant attorney. \n"We sent our reply saying it was fine," Shelly said. \nThe Homeowners Association went from house to house trying to get people to sign a petition to close the road, and all but nine people signed to support the closing. \nFernandez said there was never an agreement to close the road. \n"(The city) on an annual basis has a traffic accident study so we are very aware of where the problems are," Fernandez said.\nFrank Barnhart, the lawyer representing the Homeowners Association, said the concept of closing the road was not accepted on both sides.\n"I doubt it can be considered a formal contract."\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Malik at mjmalik@indiana.edu.